The Anatomy Theatre
The linework — every burin stroke holds at full size

The Ideal Figure

A Skeleton, from the Osteographia

Bones drawn with the aid of the camera obscura.

Work
from Osteographia, or the Anatomy of the Bones
Maker
William Cheselden
Date
1733
Held by
Published London, 1733 · Wellcome Collection
Osteographia · 1733

Format

The full-resolution scan, colour-managed to the source — yours to print, study, and explore.

Size

$29.00

The story

Cheselden used the camera obscura to draw the human skeleton with unprecedented accuracy — projecting the specimen onto paper and tracing what the lens gave him, rather than what he expected to see. Then, in the taste of his age, he posed his skeletons kneeling in prayer or lost in meditation. Rigorous science wrapped in poignant theatre; among the most beautiful bone-books ever made, and a quiet argument that accuracy and feeling were never enemies.

See it on your wall

The plate, in the room it was made for

A Skeleton, from the Osteographia, printed large and framed — in the consulting room, the study, the library. Every edition ships ready to become the piece the room is built around.

A Skeleton, from the Osteographia framed on the wall
A Skeleton, from the Osteographia framed on the wall
A Skeleton, from the Osteographia framed on the wall
A Skeleton, from the Osteographia framed on the wall

About this reproduction

  • A reproduction of from Osteographia, or the Anatomy of the Bones — William Cheselden, 1733 — from the copy held by Published London, 1733 · Wellcome Collection. The source. The work is centuries out of copyright and in the public domain.
  • Printed faithful to that source scan. We do not re-colour it, complete it, or interpret it; the plate you receive is the plate as it survives.
  • Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm. Framed editions sit in a box frame under acrylic, with no mount.
  • Colour-managed to the source; the tone of the paper and the ink is the engraver’s, not ours.
  • Ships in 5–10 business days.
  • If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.

Why our plates cost more than a poster: a poster is a mass run on wood-pulp stock, colour-corrected to whatever flattered the press that day. This is one sheet, pulled for you, at a size where the engraver’s hand is visible — the linework, the tonal work, the lettering — on a matte sheet that shows every line without glare.

From the same collection

The Skeleton and the Rhinoceros — from Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum, Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, engr. Jan Wandelaar, 1747

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, engr. Jan Wandelaar · 1747

The Skeleton and the Rhinoceros

An anatomy plate with a rhinoceros in the background.

Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum · 1747
The Ideal Figure — from Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum, Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, engr. Jan Wandelaar, 1747

Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, engr. Jan Wandelaar · 1747

The Ideal Figure

Human anatomy as classical sculpture.

Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum · 1747